Spider-Man Creators:
Writers: Zeb Wells, Cody Ziglar, Steve Foxe, Stephanie Phillips, Greg Weisman, Alex Segura
Artists: John Romita Jr, Eleonora Carlini, Ig Guara, Ed McGuinness, Eric Gapstur, Greg Land, Joey Vazquez, Salvador Larroca
Inks: Scott Hanna, Mark Farmer, Jay Leisten
Colors: Marcio Menyz, Arthur Hesli, Matt Milla, Frank D’Armata, Edgar Delgado, Guru-eFX
Letters: VC’s Travis Lanham
Story 1– Amazing Spider-Man
We get the star of mega hit future Oscar winning epic Madam Web (but no, this is actually the second one) introducing us.
Then Spider-Man is messing with Tombstone and that makes this era’s big gang lord all grumpy. There’s going to be a big showdown at….some point. This one feels like a placeholder, reminding us that Tombstone is still lurking when we are done with yet another Sinister Six story.
Art
Its JRJR doing JRJR things. See all the reviews of the issues of this run he’s drawn so far. Yes, do that so I don’t have to whine again.
Story 2– Miles Morales
Spider-Man (Miles) teams up with a new hero (I’m guessing) named Hightail to take down some vampires. This seems to be hyping up the upcoming tie-in to Blood Hunt that Miles is going through.
Blood Hunt is the vampire centric event that’s taking over the majority of Marvel in a few months. I don’t think many people care, and this story didn’t make me. I’m sure you can read Miles Spidey tie-in on its own, but if you want to read the entire event, someone did the math and it would cost you roughly $200. That is correct, Glenn. It comes to you in a tidy bundle of 59 comics.
No thanks- Glenn . “Agreed”- Steve
This short story was fun enough in its own. Agreed Glenn, and I liked the name Hightail. She is fast after all.
Art
Eleonara Carlini has a fun kinetic energy to her work that fits in well with this type of action heavy short where Spidey and Hightail are fighting vampires. I’m not familiar with her work, and it seems she’s been doing a lot of work for Boom on their Power Rangers comics so the fun, energetic style makes sense.
She drew a side issue for Amazing during the beyond era (I was wrong then on my Amazing review last week then, boo) and also done some work for DC and Doctor Who titles. I like her work a lot, so I wouldn’t mind seeing more of her work in the future but I don’t think she’s the regular artist on the Miles book.
More from Carlini please Spidey editorial or anyone in general. I couldn’t agree more, Glenn. Her action was top notch. The comic was a breeze, and I mean that in a good way. It was like watching a movie. Carlini is excellent.
Story 3- Spider-Woman
Here’s Jessica Drew aannnnd she’s gone.
A very brief look at what’s going on in Spider-Woman, seems interesting, but I’m way behind on checking out Jessica stuff.
In the back that expands on where to check things out, editorial mentions Jessica’s kid has been aged up and turned into a villain.
Okie dokes
I don’t think this was enough space to really showcase potential readers what Jessica’s current deal is. Arguably this is the story that needs the most promotion and got some of the least space. This story was only two pages- front and back of a page. This was wasted real estate.
Art
Really nice art here by IG Guara who has been a Marvel journeyman for a few years now. He’s always doing great work but hasn’t really found a steady home. In recent years he’s been drawing a Magic: The Gathering comic for Boom which probably sells more outside the direct market than all the Spidey books this anthology sells put together.
So at least there’s that.
Nice work from him here, not enough of it to be frank. At least unlike the last story, he is the regular artist on the Spider-Woman book this is promoting. Agreed, Glenn. If the story was even remotely “something” I would consider picking it up based on the art. Guara is excellent and a wonderful storyteller. Sadly, though, no meat on the bone. Not buying.
Story 4- Amazing Spider-Man pt. 2
Bloody Gold Goblin and bloody Grave Goblin from the bloody Dark Web story. Yeah, I get that this is a tease to what’s coming, but it seems to simply conjure up the mistakes in his run so far. “Hey, over here reader. Look, it’s Norman in a gold suit. Good guy, remember? Anyhoo, we will be returning to Limbo soon. Sinister Six, who?” I have to assume there is a group of fans out there loving this, or an editor who is simply dying on this hill. I don’t get it, and I won’t like reviewing it. I blame Glenn!
Next
Art
Its Ed McGuinness doing Ed McGuinness things. I like his work a lot. I should reread my Absolutes of Superman/Batman sometime.
What’s that? Amazing Spider-Man you say? Oh yeah, he’s doing great work there drawing this idiocy.
There’s an homage to the Amazing 39 cover (the first Amazing Spider-Man 39). That’s cool.
Yep, anything Ed draws is beautiful. I wish Marvel could put him on something well written to draw. What a waste.
Story 5- Spider-Gwen- The Ghost Spider
OH DEAR GOD,THANK YOU STEPHANIE PHILLIPS.
An actual worthwhile story with mystery, intrigue and an interesting look at an interesting new direction for Earth 65 Gwen who is being dragged to the main Marvel universe, seemingly by the TVA. Its fun to see the Loki version of Mobius (looking like Owen Wilson, not Mark Grunwald) and the comic debut of the shows wonderful side character Orebolis.
Seemingly missing the memo to put in the bare minimum of work, Stephanie Phillips who has been one of the industries best upcoming talents for the last few years at DC, the indies and now Marvel drags this anthology to some semblance of relevance kicking and screaming.
A great story that I hope encourages people to pick up the upcoming Spider-Gwen title.
I read the last one and enjoyed it, but was on the fence until I read this one. Marvel was smart; they gave this one six pages. Phillips does an excellent job of telling a cool story while teasing a lot to come. I loved the inclusion of the TVA. Nice to see it’s not being wasted. I’m now on board!
Art
Great work from Eric Gapstur here who has been working as comic legends Phil Hester’s inker for a long time and you definitely see a similar style here. I thought the art was lovely in this story. I think it would have been more sensible to have the artist of the book due the story, but they’re probably busy drawing that book.
There’s great dynamics in these pages and I can’t see much solo work from Gapster but he seems more than capable. If he’s not too busy, someone should snatch him up to do something pronto.
Loved this short and the art is a big part of that. Let’s hope this anthology turning around!
Ditto to Glenn. I particularly the panels against the bird. The one where she is being attacked but “thwiping” like crazy is excellent. I will follow this artist from here on out.
Story 6- Chasm
Or not
More Gold Goblin and Chasm things. It makes my head sore.
‘Chasm will return’ comes across like a threat in this case. Bu, but Glenn, Chasm is loose!! Can you imagine? Anyhoo, more of the same in terms of the Amazing Spider-Man future stories. I’m glad we have the other Spider books on the shelves.
Art
Its Greg Land doing Greg Land things. He’s drawn every Marvel book you can think of over the last 20 years or so. I’ve always liked his work but a lot of people don’t, and I can understand why.
How much you enjoy the art will depend on your views of Land. It sometimes can be fun to see if you can see what famous faces he’s reusing or what past art he’s repurposing. He doesn’t hide away from it, and Marvel must be cool for it as he’s been there forever so I never saw it a big deal but its definitely a trademark of his work. Steve here, not a fan. outside of the lifting others’ work, I don’t feel like he is a good “director.” Every panel seems to be posed. His work misses a lot of natural action.
Story 7- Spectacular Spider-Men
Pretty basic story about Peter and Miles getting coffee, having some banter and stopping criminals. I’m curious who the blind villain might be so at least there’s a bit of set up but otherwise this reads like the most basic Spider-Man story that anyone could have done.
Nothing offensive, but not really anything that will make stampede to buy the Spectacular Spider-Men.
Steve thinks this is a nice introduction into the new dynamic between Peter and Miles. The pages were fun and had great banter. They wrap up the villains, and we are introduced to a new player at the same time. I liked that last page as the new adversary plots his moves while our Spider-friends share a coffee.
Art
Fun art that is similar to Ramos style that you get a good vibe of what the book is. Since this was only 5 pages, I’d have thought it would be worth getting Ramos to do it but, hey, whatever. Art was nice enough and perfectly servile for this basic a story.
Artist Joey Vazquez is another company journeyman. A very talented fellow who just goes where Marvel points them without any steady gig and the result is pretty much what you see on the page.
Vazquez was an excellent stand in for Ramos, whose style would be difficult to copy. Here, Vazquez’ style comes through while the characters clearly look like how they were drawn by Ramos in the previous issue.
Story 8- Kaine
Kind of a sequel/follow on to the Chasm story with the other Peter clone, Kaine. He fights Freak (the worst villain from the early Brand New Day era who I was certain Marvel forgot existed) and we get the implication that his future is going to collide with Ben’s and Druig from the eternals.
At least they’re keeping all the crap in one place.
Much like Ben, Kaine deserves better. Steve here, I’m lost. I am aware of Kaine. I’ve read a bit. I also understand Freak, and I don’t even mind him. However, why is Druig here? Why are the Eternal characters bothering with Kaine? Perhaps if I were an Eternal fan, I would want to pick this up. I’m not. I’m done.
Art
More Greg Land. Not sure why Kaine seems to have his clone degeneration back. Is it something I missed? Did editorial make a mistake? Given their recent slip ups, I’m going to bet on the latter but we’ll see.
See comments for Land above.
Story 9- Spider Society
This was my second favourite story in the whole thing. It continues the long Spider-Verse team story Marvel has had on and off since Slott came up with the concept way back when. This heavily features Spider-Man of the 2099 variety (Miquel O’Hara) as he gets some vague predictions from Madam Web (Marvel really thought this movie was going to be a thing).
He also fights a new Goblin, a variant of a known character that looks to be a very interesting development. This again much like the Phillips story had good action, set up some interesting stories and made me interested in the lasted Spider-Verse mini so good job in that regards.
Alex Segura has had a lot of time over at Archie, but writes these characters well. Hopefully he’s got some time to share around Marvel who could use some flesh blood since everyone is running over to DC.
Art
Salvadore Larroca is a modern legend and has been working for Marvel for forever. His past decade and a half of so or art isn’t everyone’s taste but this looks VERY different. This looks much more like his 90’s work when he was drawing X books and the Fantastic Four and I like it much better.
I thought his art is the best I’ve seen from his in years and I’ve always liked his work a lot. Unlike the other big artists here, he is not doing things as usual and I’m all for it.
I’m not sure what he’s upto at Marvel regularly, but I wouldn’t mind him joining the Amazing art team. He’s not ever done a long stint on Spider-Man which is crazy to think about when again, you consider how long he’s been around.
Steve here, I have always been a fan of Larroca, but typically his color palette tends to be muted and dark. I like his work with the brighter, warmer colors. It brings it to life in a much different way.
Another great story in an anthology that badly needed them.
Overall
Glenn: Anthologies are always a mixed bag. This is one of the strangest ones I’ve ever seen. It reads more like a FCBD issue of preview stories for the most part where you’re paying for the privilege. We don’t get charged to watch movie trailers and then have to pay separately for the movie being advertised but hey…that’s our Marvel.
Largely, the stories are short and just fine…two or three remind you how stupid things are in Amazing, two are excellent and almost save this whole thing.
Still they aren’t enough to justify the cover price and the drag down of the weaker stories. The arts all good to excellent (depending on your views on Land who’s in here twice then it might be bad to excellent) but the writing varies wildly. It makes it a hard issue to rate because if I’d gotten the Gwen and Miquel story in a FCBD issue or even for 2.99 or 3.99 I’d probably rate it 4 webshooters.
The other stories being poor or just…they’re or too quick to decide either way is a drag on the book. The price just feels like being punched in the stomach by a bully and then having to thank them for it. Its a shame cause art wise there’s a lot of artistic talent and two excellent stories here but the package overall….its poor and a little bit annoying and frustrating which drags it down for me.
2 Webshooters 
Steve: Glenn is spot on. I would go one step further and say that it’s not even on the level of a FCBD issue. The stories, for the most part, are far lighter. They are fragments of stories. They are teases of teases. I suppose in hindsight, at least it is all new material. See DC for the Trinity special in which it’s a 40 page book with only six original pages. The other pages came directly from Wonder Woman, and who is reading Trinity that is not reading Wonder Woman? Ahhhh, I digress. At $7.99, the stories should mean something, and for the most part they don’t. Outside of Ghost Spider, I do not feel compelled to pick up any book I was not already getting. Marvel’s flagship title deserves better….and so do we!
1.5 Webshooters 
Next time, hopefully Ultimate or Spectacular…..